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		<title>Equinox Runtime</title>
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					<p><font class=indextop> equinox</font><br>
        <font class=indexsub> equinox runtime</font></p>
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<p>Eclipse originally used a home-grown runtime model. That is, the runtime model/mechanism 
  was designed and implemented specifically for Eclipse. This was good in that 
  it was highly optimized and tailored. It was less than optimal in that there 
  are many issues which are complicated and having a unique runtime mechanism 
  does not allow us to reuse the work done in other areas (e.g., OSGi, Avalon, 
  JMX, ...). To address this, we went looking for a runtime that has a strong 
  specification, a good component model, supports dynamic behaviour, and is reasonably 
  similar to that of Eclipse.</p>
<p>This last point bears some discussion. While we would like to start with a 
  clean slate and adopt/design a runtime which satisfies everyone's wish list, 
  pragmatically, it must still be possible to run old plug-ins on the new runtime 
  with confidence. That is, the new runtime cannot be so completely different 
  so as to make this difficult/totally inefficient/impossible.</p>
<p>To that end, we have implemented a plug-compatible runtime for Eclipse based 
  on the OSGi specification. Consult the resources below for more information.</p>
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      Equinox Runtime Resources</font></b></td>
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    <td align=RIGHT width="16" valign=TOP><img src="http://eclipse.org/images/Adarrow.gif" width="16" height="16" border="0"></td>
    <td><a href="http://www.osgi.org" target="_top"><b>OSGi</b></a><br>
      The base specification and all you need to know about the organization.</td>
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    <td><a href="runtime.html" target="_top"><b>Runtime Overview</b></a><br>
    An overview/vision of the new runtime.</td>
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    <td><a href="architecture.html" target="_top"><b>Architecture</b></a><br>
      A description of the new runtime which consists of OSGi, a set of Eclipse-specific 
      facilities and an Eclipse compatibility layer.</td>
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    <td><a href="howto.html" target="_top"><b>Running the runtime</b></a><br>
      How to use the new runtime.</td>
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    <td><a href="adoption.html" target="_top"><b>Adoption Guide</b></a><br>
    Details of how to update your plug-ins to take advantage of the new runtime.</td>
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    <td><a href="rcp-plugins.html" target="_top"><b>RCP plug-ins</b></a><br>
    The list of RCP plug-ins and their characteristics.</td>
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